


Oh, to be the Second in Command

by Zoombow



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Pre-Series, mild violence, only because Megatron constantly manages to surpass him in the stupidity level, skywarp gets banished to a corner, soundwave is all too willing to add another millennia of work to his load, starscream is somehow a smart bitch, this is my self-indulgence at its finest, this is my “how starscream became the second in command” fic, thundercracker is So Tired and So Concerned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-24
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2021-02-17 22:35:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21550867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoombow/pseuds/Zoombow
Summary: Earlier in the war, Megatron soon realized that he needed a second in command. But of course, being a dumbass, he didn’t want his second to be level-headed.He wanted a bastard.Starscream unknowingly shows himself to be a perfect fit
Relationships: Starscream & Thundercracker & Skywarp, implied Starscream/Thundercracker/Skywarp
Comments: 6
Kudos: 95





	Oh, to be the Second in Command

Megatron found soon in the beginning of the war that he needed aid in his strategies and, truly, just someone to talk to. He could only converse with Soundwave for so long. Soundwave was certainly good for strategic and planning, but he wasn’t much for a conversationalist. Perhaps it was his emotionless, monotone voice and how his face was almost entirely covered leaving him uncannily expressionless. Or maybe it was because he never elaborated on his responses. Megatron felt rude to think it because he had known Soundwave for so long, but he was truly just a boring person to talk to. He didn’t even know his interests. Did he even have any?

Simply put, Megatron needed a second in command.

Soundwave was indeed a perfect fit for the job, but he was already juggling the fact that he was their telecommunications officer, had to keep track of his cassettes, had to keep track of practically everyone, make sure all of the fuel was in place and... well the list just continued. Megatron knew that Soundwave would emotionlessly accept the job and execute it perfectly, but he just felt extremely rude to pile another load of work on him. Perhaps he was too empathetic, or maybe, selfishly so, he just wanted a better person to talk to. After all, he would have much more conversations with his second in command than anyone else given the importance of the job.

But who else could he trust with such an important position? Shockwave? Megatron knew he was disorganized even when he tried to hide it. He was just as bad of a conversationalist as Soundwave was, too. He also had a very large workload. At least Megatron liked to think he did. He had no idea what he was doing in that lab of his.

This was an issue of having to get to know his fellow Decepticons. It shouldn’t have been an issue, but it was. Their cause was so large. There were millions of soldiers roaming about their base. Where would he even start? How would he even start?

When Megatron brought up the issue with Soundwave, he, being unreasonably the nicest, most responsible and sacrificial person ever, said that he was fine with being the second in command if that was the most desirable option for the job.

“Soundwave, no,” Megatron groaned, placing his empty cube on the table they were sitting at. “I understand that you can easily be my second in command, but I know for a fact that you have too much work. You cannot burn out during these times!” Before Soundwave could continue being the most reasonable and level mech ever, Megatron held up a large servo and shook his head.

He did not tell him about the conversation issue. That would be rude.

Megatron considered bringing up the issue with Shockwave, but thought it would be yet another lost cause of too much respect and too little suggestions. This was what he needed a second in command for! He couldn’t just have everyone agree with his ideas without question. He needed someone to argue with. To scream at. To want to punch in the face even when they were right!

Maybe, perhaps, Megatron was just being a bit weird when he thought the last part.

~

He didn’t know how to talk to his troops. Everyone was afraid of him. They were all too respectful and nice! He needed someone completely and utterly rude and disrespectful... at least, to an extent. They needed to be intelligent too, and as Megatron had observed multiple times, that wasn’t a quality many Decepticons possessed. If they did have more than half a processor, then they were spineless cowards who kissed his aft each time he so much as glanced in their direction.

Megatron did notice that even though their cause was very much so against frame-type discrimination, everyone still got together in groups of others who had the same frame as them. A particularly odd bunch that caught his attention a lot was those strange seekers. There were a whole lot more of them after they captured Vos before it was destroyed. Some whispered that the prince of Vos was among their ranks, but Megatron doubted it. Anyone who was a part of a monarchy always proved to be cowards that flocked at the Autobot’s pedes at any chance they could for a smidgen of safety.

Nonetheless, the constant movement of wings always managed to catch his eye. Each twitch, each flutter seemed to express an emotion, even when they didn’t mean to let their wings move. He wasn’t very well informed on what the movements meant, though. Then Soundwave informed him that the emotions of which their wing movements portrayed was different for every seeker, so it was a lot cause investigating that. He still liked to watch the wings. However inappropriately, Megatron thought the wings were rather pretty.

A downside to seekers was that they always seemed to be massive aftholes until he set foot in wherever they were causing trouble.

Most of the time they weren’t even fighting with random mechs not of a flight-frame. They fought each other over the most inexplicable of things. He once heard an argument over one using a paint that was too similar to the other’s.

They were social, but completely idiotic.

Yet, they were like everyone else. As soon as he entered the room while they were doing anything that so much as gave implication to having fun, they immediately stopped out of fear. 

Which was why a random flash of black and blue wings speeding past him instantly caught his optic. He heard loud, obnoxious laughter and concerned shouting. He looked in the direction that the two seekers ran, bewildered. 

The black-winged seeker, through his fit of laughter, managed to choke out something about... screaming? The blue one, wearing the expression of worried carrier, said something about a star getting infuriated with whatever the other seeker was talking about. Then the black-winged one said something about a screaming star? After that, he promptly—

— _Vanished?_

Right before his optics, Megatron witnessed what used to be a purple and black clad seeker disappear in a flash of nearly-blinding purple light. The blue seeker let out a tired and defeated sigh and turned around, intent on finding the other the long way. Just as he began to walk forward, he noticed Megatron staring at him, dumbfounded.

“Uh, Lord Megatron!” The seeker’s wings were quivering. Megatron cocked an optical ridge, trying to act like he knew what was going on. The seeker flinched under his gaze and whipped his helm to the left before staring at him again. “I... have to go! Have a nice day!”

Before the anxious seeker could so much as walk three steps, Megatron set a large hand on his shoulder. He didn’t put his hand on his wing. That seemed a bit... rude, perhaps?

The seeker physically activated his thrusters and raised himself a few feet off the ground in fear. He lowered himself just as fast as he rose up, slowly turning his head to look Megatron in the eyes.

“Now tell me, just how did I see that friend of yours vanish?” Megatron inquired. The blue seeker mumbled something about a ‘warp drive.’ “Care to speak up when your leader is talking to you?”

Megatron never liked to pull the leader card. It seemed like he was abusing his power just to find out why random seeker, who he’ll probably never see again, disappeared. But it seemed like the only way to get him to talk.

“Skywarp has a warp drive,” the seeker said quickly. When that wasn’t enough for Megatron, because Primus knows what a warp drive is, he continued. “It’s sort of like an... outlier ability? He was built with it, sir.”

“A teleporter among our ranks,” Megatron mumbled, lessening his grip on the seeker’s shoulder but not quite letting him go. “What’s your name, soldier?” He suddenly barked.

“Uh! Thundercracker, sir!” Thundercracker choked out, surprised.

“Interesting,” Megatron replied vaguely. He released poor Thundercracker’s shoulder. “You may continue trying to retrieve your friend.” Thundercracker started at him for a little while longer before nodding furiously and running off in a random direction.

Megatron watched him go, noting that he was particularly fast, but not all that coordinated, considering that he stumbled multiple times. Or perhaps he was still shaken up about his encounter with Megatron.

Now, what was he doing? Ah, yes, mentally monologuing about how everyone was too stupid and afraid to be his second in command.

He needed someone bold and brash. Someone who would be willing to be downright rude to him without and prompt to do so. Someone who would do something so unbelievably idiotic that somehow worked to their advantage in the end. Yet, they also needed to be smart. Manipulative to the right people.

They would have to absolutely earn their spot by standing out. Though, if he made it clear to everyone that he was looking for a second in command, they would all jump at the chance and be someone they weren’t. 

This was so, unnecessarily _difficult._

~

There was a noticeable lack of an Air Commander, which was quite necessary given that a large portion of the Decepticons were seekers. Starscream thought that Megatron was a huge imbecile for not looking for one.

“Don’t say those things about him,” Thundercracker mumbled next to him, having heard his thoughts through their trine bond. Starscream rolled his optics.

“The dumbaft can’t read my mind, Thundercracker,” he snarled condescendingly. Thundercracker sighed, still trying to pick out whatever gunk between his joints Skywarp had poured on the two of them.

All three of them were in their quarters. Skywarp was banished to a corner because he pulled a rather disgusting prank that left Starscream still feeling unclean, even after he had thoroughly washed himself of all the gunk that had been poured on him. Thundercracker wasn’t as lucky, given that he was still finding pieces of the stuff between his joints.

Thundercracker glanced at Skywarp sympathetically. “Don’t you think you’ve kept him there long enough?” It had been six hours. It was still a mystery of how Starscream could turn off Skywarp’s warp drive, but he had. 

“Absolutely not!” Starscream yelled. Thundercracker winced when Starscream’s voice somehow reached a higher octave. “He’s a bastard. Bastards stay in the bastard corner.” Starscream glared at the seeker in question.

“You’re the bastard!” Skywarp yelled back. Skywarp was an idiot, though. Even though his warp drive was deactivated at the moment, there was nothing stopping him from getting up and out of the corner. There was no barrier. Starscream had simply pushed him to the ground and told him to stay, to which the idiot complied. Or maybe he did know that there was a small barrier, which would be Starscream’s talons for digits.

Starscream wasn’t in the mood to have a screaming match with him. He was busy being irritated with the idiocy of their leader. He had no Air Commander but then had the audacity to be infuriated when the Air Force had no idea what they were doing on the battlefield.

“If you think he’s so stupid then why don’t you be the Air Commander?” Skywarp sneered at him from his bastard corner.

“Shut up, you!” Starscream sneered back. “When you’re in the bastard corner, you stay quiet!” Skywarp said something about the bastard corner having just been invented today so he wouldn’t have known the rules, but Starscream wasn’t listening. Maybe, for once in his stupid, wasteful life, Skywarp was right. Why couldn’t he make an attempt to be the Air Commander?

It was a hopeless thought, but an ambitious one. He’d have to stand out in a good way. He couldn’t think of how, but he knew that he could.

~

There was to be another attack on the Autobots soon. Megatron had planned it somewhat carefully. He was confident that they would succeed.

When he brought up his plans with Soundwave, the mech seemed to almost... hesitate? What could possibly be wrong? When Megatron asked, Soundwave refused to give a straight answer.

“Statement: Your plan only has a few... flaws,” Soundwave droned, but even though he couldn’t distinctly hear it, there was something in his voice that made him sound uncomfortable. “Other than that, it is perfect.”

Megatron and Soundwave both knew that something was wrong. Soundwave just wasn’t saying anything because he was too nice. “Soundwave, if something is wrong, you can just tell me! We need this plan to be executed without flaw!”

Soundwave stared at him. His red visor poured into his very soul, seeing all of his secrets, his thoughts, his memories... or maybe Megatron was just imagining things.

He didn’t say anything. He just turned around and walked away.

Maybe he knew that whatever issues he brought up, Megatron would just argue back that it would all be fine and refuse to see the point. He knew that he tended to do that, but it couldn’t possibly be this bad! 

After that, Megatron had reread his plans a million times, trying to spot a flaw. His stubborn idiocy kept him from seeing just exactly what was wrong. It kept him from remembering that the Autobots had a much larger army than them and could send in any troops from and direction at any time they pleased.

Being a leader sucked.

~

Megatron had called everyone and announced his plans. He talked about the formations everyone would go into and whatnot. Apparently he would be fighting with them this time.

He was an imbecile, Starscream could see. Pure, utter incompetence sang a song throughout his entire plan.

Starscream told his trinemates. They told him not to worry about it. The suck-ups said that Megatron would know what he was doing, but with uncertainty in their voices.

“No, no no!” Starscream shouted at them. “The Autobots have multiple battalions! They can come out from any corner!” Thundercracker and Skywarp gave useless reassurances. Starscream screeched a little bit of gibberish and threatened them with the bastard corner. Skywarp had a little bit of genuine fear in his eyes at the threat. Thundercracker was unmoved.

“What can you do about it anyway?” Thundercracker asked. “It’s not like you’re his second in command. He doesn’t even know you! If you just walked up to him and started screaming about how stupid he was, he’d probably just beat your aft in!”

Starscream sneered, but there was already a plan forming in his head. Megatron wasn’t taking every soldier in the Decepticon army. It would be stupid to, and their leader wasn’t entirely incompetent. If no one was there, their base could easily be raided.

There was a lack of seekers that had been told to fight in the planned battle. A smirk slowly crept its way on to Starscream’s face.

“Oh no,” Thundercracker mumbled at his expression. Starscream’s evil-looking grin only grew larger at the comment.

“I don’t like that face,” Skywarp lamented. 

“You two are required,” Starscream said to them haughtily. “And no, you have no choice. I’m your trine leader, aren’t I?” He started walking towards the door of their quarters and waved them over. “Come now. We have much to do.”

Thundercracker and Skywarp shared uneasy glances, but complied.

~

Their battle started out perfectly. The Autobots were appropriately startled at their sudden attack. They were disorganized, having not expected this to happen. Most of the blood spilled was coming from mechs with Autobot insignias. Sparks were extinguished. Injuries upon injuries increased. The Decepticons were winning. 

At least, they were.

The Autobot battalion seemed to come out of nowhere, and soon most of the blood spilled was of Decepticon origin. Now they were losing.

Just as Megatron was about to call a retreat, he saw a familiar pair of blue wings and black wings speed by. A blast from Thundercracker’s null ray hit an Autobot square in the eye. The Autobot screamed. Skywarp grinned.

Megatron heard unfamiliar screeching. The irritating voice seemed to be giving commands to a large fleet of seekers that Megatron didn’t remember telling to come to battle. He looked up for the source of the voice.

A tri-colored seeker in mainly red and white with bright blue arms was cackling manically in the air. He was also shouting orders at the same time. The ones he was screaming at complied to his orders.

He didn’t know who was winning until he saw the Autobots running in the opposite direction of the Decepticons. They won?

Megatron looked for the pair of white wings in the sky, but couldn’t find them.

He heard the voices of Thundercracker and Skywarp. His head snapped in their direction, trying to understand what just happened and how it worked so well.

They said something about a screaming star.

~

Starscream was full of himself now. It was easy to see. Thundercracker supposed his confidence was well-earned, but it was a bit annoying. Skywarp slapped one of Starscream’s wings. The seeker yelped in surprise.

“Shut up, we get it, you’re great!” Skywarp complained, his cube tipped to his mouth but not enough for the energon to enter. Everyone was celebrating the win. They did it every time they won a battle, and the three of them always tended to stray away from the celebration. It was loud and filled with drunken idiots. Starscream wanted to stay this time, though, but only because he was the one who helped them win in the first place.

Starscream snarled and was about to snap back with whatever creative insult came to his mind when a particularly famous hulking frame entered the room. Everything got quieter. Even the random mechs who were already interfacing stopped making noise.

Megatron spotted the three of them at their secluded table in the corner of the room. He pointed at them.

“You three,” he barked. “Come with me.” Thundercracker and Skywarp nervously stood up without question. They glanced at their trine leader. He crossed his arms huffily before standing up. Always last to follow orders.

They followed their leader to wherever he was taking them. His arms were folded behind his back. He looked visibly ticked.

_I think we’re going to die._ Thundercracker told Skywarp over their bond. Skywarp was tempted to teleport the three of them out of the situation. They heard Starscream scoff from... in front of them? When did he get there?

Megatron suddenly halted in front of a door. Starscream did the same in perfect time, as if he knew when he was going to stop. Thundercracker stumbled at the sudden stop but managed to stop. Skywarp walked right into Thundercracker.

Megatron punched in a code that opened the door. Starscream glanced at the numbers he entered. Was he trying to memorize it? What would be the purpose of that?

Megatron walked in and gestured for the three seekers to do the same. It was an office. As always, Thundercracker and Skywarp complied immediately in fear. Starscream didn’t. He entered slower, making sure to sneer at Megatron as he walked by.

_Do you have a death wish?_ Skywarp asked Starscream over the bond. Starscream didn’t respond. Megatron ordered them to sit in the three chairs arranged in front of his desk. Megatron sat in his chair behind the desk. Starscream sat in the middle, right in front of Megatron, as if to force his gaze upon him even when he didn’t want to look.

“I take it you three know exactly why you’re here?” Megatron asked threateningly. Thundercracker and Skywarp nodded furiously. Thundercracker felt like he was going to spring a leak.

“No, as a matter of fact, I don’t, mighty Megatron,” Starscream drawled sarcastically, making sure to emphasize the word mighty. Megatron raise an optical ridge at the disrespect.

“Curious,” Megatron growled, locking optics with Starscream as if to beat him down with a single look. It certainly threatened Skywarp and Thundercracker even though he wasn’t looking at them.

It didn’t threaten Starscream. In fact, he glared right back into Megatron, optics narrowing. “Curious indeed,” he replied. 

Was Skywarp imagining things, or did Megatron’s mouth just twitch as if he was about to smile?

“I’m going to get straight to the point,” Megatron said, breaking eye contact with Starscream and leaning back in his chair. “During our battle yesterday, an unplanned fleet of seekers showed up and fought the other Autobot battalion. I noticed you three in the midst.” When there was no response, he continued. “Do any of you have an idea of who organized that to happen?”

Thundercracker and Skywarp quickly pointed to the mech between them. He looked visibly offended that they were so quick to blame, even if it was true. Just as the two were about to give explanations and excuses, Megatron held up a large servo.

“Thundercracker, Skywarp,” he nodded at the two of them. They stiffened. Skywarp looked confused as to how he knew his name. “You two are dismissed.” Their expressions changed to shock. They looked at Starscream nervously. He just sneered at them.

They left tentatively. Megatron knew that they were just waiting outside the door to flock their trine leader as soon as he left.

“I don’t believe we’ve met,” Megatron said, meeting Starscream’s angry glare again. “What’s your name?”

“Starscream,” he hissed. Megatron blinked. The other two weren’t talking about a screaming star. They were talking about _him._

“Well, Starscream, would you care to explain what happened?” Megatron inquired further. “I—“

“Your complete and utter incompetency as a leader almost got all of your soldiers killed,” Starscream cut him off. Megatron was dumbfounded at the interruption and insult. Starscream continued. “I took it upon myself to fix your stupid mistakes, so I convinced those who didn’t care much for their lives to join me. I gave them a plan. It worked. Unlike yours.”

Megatron found himself smiling like a fool. Starscream looked annoyed and confused at his expression. “Impressive, Starscream. Truly impressive.”

Starscream blinked at the compliment but quickly shook off the surprise. “Of course it was impressive! I made the plan!”

“That was quite a large fleet of seekers that you managed to command,” Megatron continued with the compliments. Starscream furiously sputtered, his face beginning to flush with color. “I can’t imagine commanding in the air.”

“Of course you couldn’t!” Starscream almost stuttered, but still managed to insult him. Impressive. “You’re just a gun! You wouldn’t know what it’s like to be in the air!”

Starscream was clutching on to the desk as if he needed to hold on to something. It was crushing in his grasp. He had impressively sharp digits. Megatron could imagine them cutting clean through a mech’s body.

“There’s no need to panic, fool,” Megatron replied calmly.

“ _Fool?_ ” Starscream screeched indignantly. Megatron winced at the octaves he reached. 

“This is an opportunity for you, Starscream,” he stood, then gestured for Starscream to do the same. “Up, now.” The seeker grit his teeth and stood. Megatron looked at the crushed table Starscream had released before looking back into the seeker’s eyes. Yet he overestimated his height. He looked down even more than he expected to. Starscream was at level a little lower than his chassis. Even with the large height difference, Starscream stared at him as though he were taller. It was a little charming.

“What ‘opportunity?’” Starscream spat the last word. Megatron placed a heavy hand on his shoulder. Starscream almost stumbled under the sudden weight.

“How would you like,” Megatron said slowly, dragging out the suspense further, “to be my Air Commander?” 

Starscream’s jaw dropped.

He collected himself quickly enough. Just as he was about to speak, Megatron cut him off. “A fair warning, young fool. This is a large responsibility, and—“

“Shut up, dumbaft, of course I want to be your Air Commander!” Starscream hissed, but he was smiling slightly. Megatron looked at his face fondly.

“Perfect,” he replied. He nodded his head towards the door, indicating that he could leave. Starscream walked towards it. Just as Megatron was about to tell him the code to open it, he punched in the answer. He must’ve known what he put in when he allowed them to enter.

As soon as he took one step out the door, a dark servo grabbed his face.

“You dumbaft, we were so worried about you!” Thundercracker yelled. 

A purple servo also grabbed his face. “We thought he killed you! What happened in there?” Skywarp also yelled. Starscream could really do without the yelling.

“Now, now,” Starscream chastised. “That’s no way to talk to your Air Commander.” The two let go of his face in silent shock. Starscream started walking away.

“ _What?_ ” They both screamed. Starscream cackled.

~

To be fair, he probably should have consulted Soundwave in the decision. It wasn’t because he forgot, though. He just didn’t want to. Soundwave wouldn’t approve of him bringing up a mech he didn’t even know.

It wasn’t long before their Air Commander became the second in command. Some thought he would die soon. Others thought he would get demoted just as quickly as he got promoted.

He didn’t.

Megatron had just blasted someone with his newly gifted fusion canon when he heard cackling ring throughout the battlefield. He looked up to see the maniacal seeker zoom past him, energon dripping from his digits. Perhaps Starscream was just a little bit insane. Just a tad mentally deranged and psychotic, but it was all right. He got the job done.

Megatron grinned when he saw Autobots attempt to steer clear of his flight path.


End file.
